Nina Spalding Stevens (January 29, 1876 – March 11, 1959) was an American writer and museum director.

Early life

Nina de Garmo Spalding was born in

Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately. Located along the St. Clair ...

, the only child of Edgar Goldsmith Spalding and Leonora D. Buel Spalding. Her father was a veteran of the American Civil War and a banker in Michigan. She studied at the

New York School of Applied Design for Women The New York School of Applied Design for Women, established in 1892, was an early design school for women in New York City. The New York School of Applied Design building was built in 1908 and is now a landmarked building. The school became the ...

and was a member of the

Art Students' League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stud ...

in New York.

Career

Toledo Museum of Art

Nina Spalding Stevens was appointed assistant director of the Toledo Museum of Art in 1904; her husband George W. Stevens was director. She was active in developing collections, planning and publicizing exhibits. She especially took charge of organizing activities, including women's study groups, tours, and lectures.Sarah Fee
"Not For Art's Sake: An Early Exhibition of Pre-Columbian Objects at the Toledo Museum of Art, 1928-1929"
''Museum Anthropology'' 34(1)(2011): 19-23. She founded and was first president of the Athena Art Society, one of the oldest women's art organizations in the United States, in 1903. The couple worked with the museum's president, glass manufacturer

Edward Libbey Edward Drummond Libbey (April 17, 1854 – November 13, 1925) is regarded as the father of the glass industry in Toledo, Ohio, where he opened the Libbey Glass Company (later Libbey, Inc.) in 1888. Biography Libbey was born April 17, 1854, in C ...

, and they were among his heirs when he died in 1925. She stayed with the Toledo Museum of Art after George Stevens died, remaining an assistant director when a new director was appointed. She traveled to France on museum business in 1927. In Paris she made contacts in museum work, and eventually took lead in assembling and funding an exhibit of pre-Columbian objects at Toledo in 1928, based on a similar show in Paris the previous year. It was "the first major exhibition of ancient arts from across the Americas in an American art museum".

Writings and other activities

Nina de Garmo Spalding wrote a children's book, ''The Story of Jason'' (1900), and an article about traveling in Holland for a Catholic periodical. Nina Spalding Stevens's short stories and articles were published in various publications. She wrote about traveling to the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

in a party with East Coast artists, including Thomas Moran,

Elliott Daingerfield Elliott Daingerfield (1859–1932) was an American artist who lived and worked in North Carolina. He is considered one of North Carolina's most prolific artists.Johnson, Lucille Miller (1992). ''Hometown Heritage, Volume II'', p 2-3. Taylor Publi ...

Frederick Ballard Williams Frederick Ballard Williams (1871- 1956) was an American landscape and figure painter. He is best known for his decorative and idyllic scenes of the New England landscape. As a member of the National Academy, Salmagundi Club president, and found ...

, and Edward Henry Potthast. She wrote a posthumous biography of George W. Stevens, recounting much of their work together in the museum's early years. She was a founder of the Toledo Girl Scout Council, chartered in 1917.

Personal life

Nina Spalding married twice. Her first husband was George W. Stevens; they married in 1902, and she was widowed when he died in 1926. She was briefly married a second time, in 1929, to a young French museologist Georges Henri Rivière; he was gay, and theirs was a marriage of convenience (a ''mariage blanc'' in French). They socialized as a couple when she was in Paris, and worked together on museum projects, until they formally divorced in 1934. She lived in France in her later life, and died in 1959, aged 83 years, in Monte Carlo."Widow of Museum Director Succumbs"
''The News-Messenger'' (March 13, 1959): 11. via Newspapers.com

References

External links

Nina Spalding Stevens's Online Books Page
* The Toledo Art Museum
''Catalog of the Inaugural Exhibition''
(January-February 1912), from the University of Toledo. * Nina Spalding Stevens
"The White Passion of the Sea"
''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine'' (March 1907): 392-394. A short story by Stevens. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Nina Spalding 1876 births 1958 deaths People from Toledo, Ohio Pratt Institute alumni Women museum directors American women short story writers American emigrants to France